May 29, 2009

By now you must know my love affair with numbers.I love them on anything! seriously ANYTHING! I am so happy to have this designer in house I can't even begin to tell you!

so come take a peek, it's now all online in the shop, (what we have left!)selling like hotcakes I tell ya!SO come and get it!he'll be featured in the next upcoming INstyle magazine.see, we know how to sniff out the cool stuff! ;)happy day to you!XOXO

May 25, 2009

Warning, this is a LoOOOng one! grab a cup of coffee! and click on the photos to see them LARGER if you'd like! ;) Hmmm, where to start? these past few days have been such a whirlwind! oh who am I kidding, my whole life is a whirlwind! I like to squeeze out every last minute, racing to beat the clock every day just like you guys I am sure! Well at this time of the year especially I feel like the race is on working extra hard in the garden preparing the boxes and beds, pulling weeds, planting flowers, planning, dreaming, doing. the great thing about my garden is I get to plant up 3 great places! My own home, the Shop, and my mom's yard. that's what I have been working on these past 3 days.Each place has it's own unique qualities, I'll start with my Shop. the great thing about this place is that it's right downtown in the heart of the city, yet I am one block off of main street located in an old home, so not only do I have the luxury of being downtown, but I also have the old charm of a vintage home. complete with wood siding, and a charming yard to work with. I love the fieldstone, and brick, and the tiny paths and nooks and crannies I have to work with. Each year I get to plant up my big horse troughs, and every year I like to add a few extra perennials to the garden. it's always nice to see what comes back each year. My roses, and phlox are coming back, hostas in full bloom,and so much more.... I spent so much time working in the yard all day here it was great seeing how lovely it all turned out, we came by at night and saw the landscape lighting turned on lighting up the yard so beautifully. then the next morning I get a call from my friend Gayle who opened the shop for me on saturday morning, and noticed that somebody had come along and kicked down my railing and ripped up some of the landscape lighting during the night! one of the many FUN aspects of having a downtown location! WHATEVER! they won't rain on my parade! I still love being downtown even though you have to deal with vandals on a regular basis! it still looks nice despite the fact that I get to add "buying a new railing" to the mile long to-do list. SO moving on from here I went to my moms house,we visited the greenhouses first and loaded up....every inch of the truck was packed. my mom, Fiona and I headed on over to the place where I grew up. I love this neighborhood. it's so charming! all of the homes have their own unique flavor and style.many of them painted very colorfully like candy coated houses. some of them are old victorians, some are just simple craftsmen style cottages. it's on the historic register, so the homes are protected.most have charming yards, and the streets are lined with mature trees. I grew up here running wild, playing hide and seek, riding my bike, walking to the little store up the street for penny candy, or down to the corner to the washtenaw dairy for an ice cream cone. I spent many days on the porch swing reading a book, or watching the world go by. it was paradise. trees that I grew up hanging on..... lovely leaded glass windows, from a time when they used high quality materials to build a house! there are also beautiful french doors inside, and solid wood trim, and doors throughout. original lighting from the 1920's, it's amazing.My sister and I haved vowed to never EVER sell this house. we want it to stay in our family for as long as we are alive.too many great memories here. So after we finished cleaning off my mom's porches and filling her planters we headed home to work on our deck and yard. Now our yard is the lease exciting of all of these places, in fact it doesn't get more boring with a 1960's tri level, but it's my home, and it has it's own type of charm. I like the privacy of my back yard with the privet hedge, andlarge deck enclosed by it. I planted up my large planters with hibiscus topiaries this year, filled the bottom with lovely blue lobelia. I bought a big ole honkin dahlia for my mexican pot....the bloom on it magnificant! and a tomato plant for my horse trough, I love that it has a green tomato already on it!of course we had to drag out the kiddie pool for Pearl,it gets hot on that deck, and my girl needs to lounge poolside too ya know! ;)even the barbies got into the action, those shameful little tarts were lounging poolside too, while we were working SO hard shoveling two truckloads of mulch.my body is so sore and tired today, but we have one more area to go.....weeding everything by hand..... as I was pulling weeds here yesteday I noticed that quite a few things were missing. hmmmm. I was wondering where my SHRUB went, a climbing clematis, a few perennials, and some other goodies. on further reflection I realized my NON gardening, NON green thumb husband had pulled out things he thought were weeds! CRUD! thank goodness for him he's cute, and i'll keep him, but shOoEY! that can be grounds for a pounding in my book! ha ha! anyways, now I have a blank slate, and I am thinking container gardening with tomatoes and zucchinis in pots because we have lots of little rabbits running around here. So we have MORE mulch to move, and more weeds to pull.....but in the end it will be a nice place to hang out and dine al fresco.....surrounded by natures beauty! i'm always amazed at what perfection lies in nature. I love to have my hands in the dirt nurturing things, and watching things grow and bloom, there is something so rewarding about it. So on that note, I am off to shovel more dirt and move more mulch, before we head back over to my mom's to work in her yard, take a class on I-movie at the apple store, and work in a pool trip! Phewwww! i will need to be in a lounge chair by mid afternoon! :) our swim club opened this weekend, Now don't think that little Miss didn't enjoy her first dip of the season there on saturday, the first day it opened! ;).....look at her new teeth growing in! she is so excited about it, she said "mom! pretty soon I can eat CORN!" ha ha! such a funny little free-spirited girl! love that! hope you all are having a nice and relaxing memorial day...hope that there are barbeques, pools, parades and gardens in your future,or that you have something fun planned. now because I have military people in my family, (my mom was in the army, my dad in the airforce, Ian was in the 101st airborne division), I have a strong sense of patriotism even though in reality I DO not like war, and believe in PEACE, I do feel we need to support our troops and am proud of our country,SO today remember to raise your flags...show your pride in your country today and always..... we have so much to be thankful for!love to you ALL, thanks for stopping by to take a peek in on my world!XOXOXOXO

May 21, 2009

SOmetimes it just takes a new project to get the old wheels spinning! This week I could feel the cogs slowly starting to churn.... (insert loud rusty squeeking noises here! ) I was fortunate enough to have been asked to participate in a Round robin art journal that will eventually be published into a book by my friend and talented Artist Chrissie Grace. I can't tell you much about the book, or show you the complete page I have been working on, but I can tell you it will feature many talented artists like my friend Jenn, sweet Claudine, the very talented Danita to name a few, among many many more artists! Each artist is assigned a page in the book, one front, one back. it will look amazing when it's done! I can give you a tiny peek into what I have been working on.....layers of fabric, stitched and painted, with the instructions to use the words "she said" She also assigned me to do fabric painting.well, I haven't done that in a LOoOOng time, and boy was that fun to revisit that technique! It really inspired me to think of different things, and try new directions......so after working on the piece for a couple of days, I decided to set it aside and work on some of my own pieces for the shop. because we have been selling things like crazy! and I was starting to panic about blank wall space! ha ha! well, i had these cute little red barn like frames in my possession for about a year or more, it just seemed fitting that they should have a chicken or two in the windows right? ;) So here is my latest project, a series of chicken paintings, mixing fabric, machine stitching, and layers of paint. I have 2 finished, and more on the horizonyou can click on the photos if you want to see a super detailed shot! ;) so these should be headed down to the shop in the next day and maybe, (fingers crossed) online soon too. I am STILL dealing with sick kids! is anybody else out there having issues with their public school system having numerous sick kids? this is ridiculous! half the schools have been ill. what the heck is up with THAT? anyways, moving on, it's lovely and sunshiney outside today, so I am hoping to get busy on some more goods today. this week I also celebrated my 44th birthday! it was such a nice day! I had a ton of birthday wishes on facebook that really made my day! My step mom gave me a lovely gift basket filled with fun goodiesmy favorites were these post it notes, they cracked me UP! so totally me!love the commitments are tough one! ha ha!I also received a Lovely mexican talevera pottery piecefrom my friend gayle!the colors SO gorgeous! my goofy family had me crackin up over their gift,they like to tease me about my love for that Ghost Hunters show. It's the only thing I watch on t.v. seriously, I only DVR it so I can fly through it all with no interruptions, but I am fascinated by what they see and here on there! call me crazy, Ian says its all a bunch of bunk, but you never know! ;) So this was their gift to me,a souvenir from the SHOW! ha ha!here I am listening for EVP'S! ha ha!anyways, that's what I have been up to this week! today i will head back down to my comfy cozy studio and surround myself with artful objectsall my little treasures and supplies keeping me cozy and let my mind wander....i've also have some new ideas in the works,tiny little domed worlds.....that will have either some cloth/fabric houses in them with trees and flowers, or tiny clay ones......i don't know yet! but I do know this! my mind is active and racing, and I cannot wait to get it all out to share it with you! I hope you ALL have a wonderful day! thanks for stopping by to take a peek!xoxoc.

May 14, 2009

My dog now has a blog. you can see it hereyou can see i've clearly lost my marbles!this is what happens when i am stuck home for several days with a sick child, and plenty of time on my hands! :) So now that I am home, sick in bed, (don't you just love how those things recycle themselves through families?)imagine what I will be getting myself into today via the internet. hee hee. anyways, I think Pearl's blog will be a fun adventure, I have already thought of ways i can beef up her site with links to important dog rescue sites, fun dog photographers that I have recently met, check out Erin vey!ohmigosh! she has the job I want!! to be able to pet AND hang out with wonderful animals all day would be my dream job seriously, (though really i AM living my dream job) I just would like it to include more animals! talk to Ian will ya? ;) So on that note, I am off to surf the web via my comfy bed. I am hoping to be back to the shop tommorow with my body free of this yucky head cold. my son keeps telling me "i bet you have swine!!"So nice. don't you just LOVE the media?! anyways, check out my goofy little dogs new blog, and send me pictures or funny stories of your OWN dogs and animals, or their special stories, and I will see if I can get them loaded up on there somehow. because yes, I think I need yet another project! ha ha! seriously, I think it will be fun!XOXOXO

May 09, 2009

So the past few days I have been working like a WILD woman, trying to make new things, to stock the shop for the spring season, and Moonlight madness yesterday..... in between taking care of my sweet little Fiona who is home with a stomach bug, mind you, because life likes to throw those curve balls at you don;t they? poor thing has been so sick for two days now, so i am hoping it will resolve itself soon. So without rambling on and on, I will leave you with some images of what I have been working on this week, and some of the sweet little plants we picked up for spring. Super cute!

I made some new pillows, and a duvet cover, that I am still working on....

My faithful Little companion by my side

even when she is sick she is still creative!

so my sweet little plain bed got a little color injection yesterday!

pretty little bed in the sweet sunshine.

I wish I could curl up in it right now, surrounded by lovely little flowers in vintage mop buckets, because yes, I am weird like that.

May 05, 2009

Hi there! how are you? are you enjoying spring as much as me? I have been a twirling wild wind cleaning out my garage and studio for the past few days! SO i haven't been around much period! It's been kind of wild what I have been un-earthing! some of it is inspiring me to go in many different directions, and some makes me want to visit some of the old things I did in the past.....hmmm So I am heading down to the studio today to make some new things, I hope to have some fresh stuff for you in the next few days, I hope all is well in your worlds, and you too have the windows open and the fresh breezes wafting through! I have been enjoying so many things in the garden, watching the tulips bloom and the lilacs, (My favorite.) I brought out my sweet bike and have been riding it around the neighborhood, what have You been up to? I hope all is well with you all, I am leaving you with some old images of things I have made in the past, I wonder what I will come up with for today? O.k. I am off to start something springy!! the birds are chirping, and the sun is shining. such a lovely, lovely day!XOXO

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